


A Semblance of Intellectual Evidence

by TigressJade



Series: Wolf Upon A Star AU's [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, M/M, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 16:44:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11993844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigressJade/pseuds/TigressJade
Summary: A moment's consideration and several considerable nightmares, lead Remus Lupin to make a decision about Sirius Black and the possibility of his innocence.





	A Semblance of Intellectual Evidence

Remus took a deep breath and sipped the Polyjuice, noting its effects in the mirror before grasping his wand and stepping toward the open fireplace. He requested "Azkaban Prison" to be his destination quite clearly and, after taking great care to connect his hearth to that of the Ministry network, albeit   in a temporary but no less illegal manner, found that appeal granted.

"Lord Malfoy we were not expecting-" the guard exclaimed as he watched the man he believed to be Lucius Malfoy step through the fire.

Remus closed his eyes and attempted to look snidely tolerant. The cane in his hand, the handle was silver, he'd made sure of it, came up to deftly push the man aside as he opened his eyes to stare directly past his countenance.

"No, I don't suppose you did. Certain people at the Ministry aren't known for their efficiency" Remus droned. "I will overlook your ignorance for now, if you will direct me to the cell holding my wife's wayward cousin."

"You-You're speaking of Sirius Black sir" the guard gulped. "He-He's crazy sir. Are you sure you are wanting to see 'im without the aurors, sir?"

"Most assuredly. Black was always a miscreant even as a child. Though I doubt my skills have dulled so much that I can't handle a single unarmed inmate" Remus answered with an intoned sneer.

"Right away sir, Lord Malfoy" the guard said and proceeded to lead him directly to Sirius' cellblock.

"Leave us and go about your duties, I am more than a match for this mongrel" Remus commanded in a snooty voice.

The guard bowed his head in a slight nod before scurrying away to inform his superiors of the surprise visit. Remus calculated that it would take him a good fifteen minutes to return with others in toe and knew he would have to budget his time accordingly.

"So little Lucy is it?" Sirius managed to grin despite the shadows under his eyes. "Come to take the piss? Cissy send you to find out what I knew about your beloved master?"

Remus glared obtusely.

"No, I've got more urgent business to attend to than your worthless hide, Black, but I'll trust you not to sully the name of Lady Malfoy with that filthy tongue of yours" Remus drawled making as if to rap Sirius on the wrist with the cane. Sirius recoiled then tried to grab it from him. "No better than an animal really. Consorting with mudbloods and continuing to communicate with abominations to wizarding kind, sloughing about in rags as those blood traitors rot in the graves they dug themselves."

Remus put a gloved hand on one of the bars and Sirius tried to bite it, but Remus held fast to his shirt, making sure to slip a small piece of paper from between his fingers into Sirius' prison robes, before flinging him backward.

"Bloody coward! At least I didn't sell my soul to Voldemort, you swag. Dromeda was always a far better witch than Cissy'll ever be" Sirius bit out through gritted teeth and spat again in his direction.

Remus snorted and proceeded to wipe the saliva neatly from his cheek.

"Useless. I've never needed to have things mapped out for me, Black." he said and turned on his heel. "If you hadn't wound up here, you'd be in some shack with your licentious friends no doubt. Be glad you're here at all, since even this place is too good for you."

Sirius snarled as he watched Remus go.

Then he looked at the collar of his robes and felt a something poking at the skin in the center of his chest. It was a small piece of paper that had only two words in it: Pad wims. It took him half an hour, long after Remus had left, to decipher it and when he did, a fire once more burnt within the depths of his soul. The words "map" and "shack" had been cleverly ingrained within the man's words to prove whom exactly it was that had visited Sirius and the note, which would look ridiculous to anyone else who read it, said exactly what it was meant to: "Pad swim". He was mean to transform into Padfoot in order to escape and swim to shore while in dog form.

The note was scrawled in a very familiar handwriting and Sirius ate it as soon as he'd figured out the message.

"Brilliant. Trust him to think of that" Sirius whispered with an eerie smile crossing his face. He'd only been in Azkaban about a week and already his dim future was looking up. The knowledge that he'd still be on the run once he got out was enough to keep the Dementors thinking he was still thoroughly depressed and they did manage to sap some of it out of him anyway, but thoughts of his escape burned brightly even after he transformed into Padfoot that night. Remus still believed in him. Even if he demanded answers later or administered a few drops Veritaserum it would be better than the treatment he'd received at the hands of the Ministry.

"I'll be coming, my wolf, just you wait" Sirius croaked from a dark corner of his cell where no one could hear him, grey eyes blazing. "I'll get out and when I do, I know exactly where to find you."

 

* * *

 

Two days later Sirius managed to slip out when a Dementor came to give him his ration. The creature thought Sirius had weakened severely owing to the fact that his thoughts were now less human and more animal in nature. Fortunately it was gratifyingly easy to reach the water's edge. He simply slipped through open doorways until he was able to find reach a window slat low enough that he could jump out into the open ocean. The human guards of Azkaban were few and far between and kept themselves as far from the Dementors as they could in lieu of an escape or an attack from the outside.

Fighting the current proved treacherous and Sirius had to seriously fight to keep his head above water. Padfoot's strength, agility, and middling buoyancy were what helped him endure until he was able to reach England's rocky shore.

Once on dry land, Sirius stayed in dog form and made his way slowly to an old cottage near Godrick's Hollow. Now that he was far away from the Dementors, Sirius had begun to mourn the deaths of his friends and the fact that Harry would now be forced to grow up without them. The idea that Harry had somehow survived Voldemort's attack with nothing more than the bleeding scar on his forehead, he now realized, should have been cause for alarm. Sirius' tattered mind had rejoiced at finding Harry alive amidst the destroyed house after finding Lily and James lifeless bodies. By all rights Harry should have been killed along with them and instead Voldemort himself had apparently met his end instead of his intended final victim that night. It was enough to make Sirius wonder now that he had the time to reflect on it and to question how safe Harry truly was at present. Hagrid had told him that he was taking Harry on Dumbledore's orders and that Harry was to go live with relatives. The grief that had overcome him on that night had deprived Sirius of all rational thought. He hadn't thought about Harry or Remus right then, assuming that they hadn't needed him, and focused all his attention on capturing and possibly killing Peter for his betrayal. Now Sirius wondered exactly who these relatives were and why Dumbledore had seen fit to place Harry elsewhere when Sirius was the boy's legal guardian. In his mind there was no safer place for his godson than with himself and Remus, whose loyalty he was ashamed to say he'd doubted. Must fix that later.

Of course it irked him to no end that no one, not even Dumbledore, had requested that Sirius be tried before the Wizengamot. His guilt was based on circumstances and assumptions. It rankled that no one in the Order, besides Remus apparently, had doubted whether or not he was guilty of betraying his best friends to Voldemort.

As an auror, ex-auror now, Sirius had seen his share of dark wizards and the even darker undercurrent at the Ministry created by Bartimus Crouch. Crouch had authorized the use of Unforgivables by aurors against the Death Eaters. Something that had disgusted both James and Sirius as they knew this would make them no better than those they fought. The very fact that Sirius had been sent to Azkaban without proper prosecution meant that Crouch's legislative reach had been extended, which was even more disturbing. He'd have to get hold of a few copies of the Prophet once he’d retrieved his spare wand from Gringotts and was able to cast concealment charms again.

It wasn't difficult to steal some writing implements from an unsuspecting muggle woman and scrawl out a note to take with him to the goblins. Griphook and Florshank would keep his presence and business with them confidential. Years ago Sirius had retrieved several objects of interest for the goblins along with Florshank's son, from Death Eater hands and so they owed him a few favors he'd yet to collect on.

Getting into Diagon Alley was a bit trickier as he had to do it without anyone noticing him. Tapping the brick as a dog wasn't difficult, because all he had to do was press it in using his snout and the way to Diagon Alley was open to him. After spending the night on the doorstep of the Leaky Cauldron and begging for scraps from old Tom the barkeep, Sirius was able to slip in to the barroom early in the morning and make his way through it to old brick wall in the back.

Diagon Alley was quiet at that time of the day as many of the shop owners had yet to fully awaken at five o'clock and the bank was the only establishment with any signs of life in it. Sirius trotted eagerly along the cobblestones, tail swishing along behind him excitedly, toward Gringotts.

"I knew you'd come to the Alley first" said a familiar voice coming from a nearby bench to Sirius' left. "Though I'll admit, I was hoping you'd be here sooner. Patrolling this place before sunset can make for an early morning that not even coffee can suffice to alleviate."

Padfoot cocked his head to the side. Then launched himself at Remus with a wag of his tail and a flex of his paws.

"Ugh, Pads. Must you slobber everywhere? That's very wet, you know."

Sirius stepped back from his over-energized greeting of a severely rumpled werewolf to look at him with raised eyebrow.

"I'm happy to see you too" Remus said beaming at the dog and ruffling his ears. "I know it wasn't you, by the way."

Sirius's eyes went wide and he tensed visibly.

"I found the rat's appointment book. It seems he got a haircut every two weeks at a time when no one from the Order, his mother, or Ms. Clacks at the salon in Diagon Alley claim to have met with him" Remus said in a low voice that Sirius' sensitive ears caught easily. "That never-healing injury on his upper left arm was made even more suspicious after Albus made public that information about the Dark Mark."

Sirius barked pointedly.

"Voldemort engrained the Dark Mark in all its repulsive glory onto the left arm of those who proved loyal to him" Remus explained. "We wouldn't have been so careless had it been either of us in Peter's place and before you say anything, yes, I did believe you were the traitor for a time. It was before Lily and James died. Peter kept insisting I keep you under surveillance."

The black dog growled and bared a magnificent set of pointed white teeth at the mention of their former friend.

"It wasn't until after I had a few nightmares about that night" Remus continued. "That was when I realized that you wouldn't have allowed yourself to be cornered on a public street. No one who survived auror training with Mad-Eye Moody would be _so_ daft as allow someone like Peter to find them that easily. You would’ve turned into a dog and bolted. It was imaging that scenario in my head that made me realize Peter could have done the exact same thing."

Sirius whimpered and nudged his friend's leg, before laying his head flat across a knee.

"I was afraid of that. He'll be long gone by now" the werewolf murmured, scratching behind one of Sirius' ears. "I just hope he doesn't find out where Harry is. I've half a mind to locate him myself to make sure he's safe in spite of Albus' fervent assurances that he is."

Padfoot sighed and bobbed his head slightly.

"I agree, our situation is needlessly complicated" Remus concurred. "We're going to have a proper chat about this later, once we've gotten your spare wand and made it safely to the hideout."

Sirius snorted a little and turned his bright grey eyes up to stare at Remus. He pressed his big black nose into the amber haired werewolf's chest in a gesture of gratitude. It really was lucky that Moony believed him, otherwise Sirius might have spent several decades locked up in Azkaban, Dementors sapping his strength, without any motivation to free himself. Never mind that the perfect escape plan had been right under his nose and well within his means the whole time.

So, apparently, as it turned out, was Harry.

Sirius’ motorcycle got one last good ride through the sky two weeks later with Remus and little Harry riding astride as they glided and eventually portkeyed off the grid into a quiet corner of the Canadian frontier.


End file.
